With pneumatic tires of recent years, there is a demand to reduce a rolling resistance of a tire for fuel economy improvement. Additionally, there is a demand to improve a cutting resistance with respect to contact with a curb or the like. Generally, when a rubber thickness of a sidewall portion is reduced, while the rolling resistance of the tire decreases, the cutting resistance of the tire worsens. Because of this, these two effects are in a mutually exclusive relationship.
Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2009-538768 provides an example conventional pneumatic tire.